An NMA helps facility managers address and resolve common issues like shift start and finish times, overtime, holidays and crew size. The NMA keeps owner, management and labor on the same page throughout the project’s life cycle.

Under an NMA, facility owners and managers no longer have to negotiate separate agreements with each trade or union working on the project. Instead, they are free to focus on the meat and potatoes of the project—getting the work done on time, on budget, and in a safe manner.

“We use the NMA because it establishes consistent provisions, observed holidays, no strikes. It simply helps us make money,” said Mike DeSimone of Foster Wheeler Zack.

The NMA concept works because all three players involved — owner, contractor, labor — negotiate as a single group to hash out the governing provisions before the first hour of work is logged. Together this tripartite group sets the framework for project inception,  performance, and completion. The result is a document each party buys in on, understands, and adheres to from start to finish. Part and parcel of each agreement is an NMA-approved or supplied safety program. The result is a recipe for success.

Hollis Johnson, director of Procurement for BP Oil, has implemented NMAs on several oil refinery maintenance projects.

“The NMA, for BP Oil, is one of the best tools to deal with labor and reach high productivity levels. It’s invincible, just super.”

The NMA concept has been so successful in part because of the National Maintenance Agreement Policy Committee’s “Book of Decisions,” a record of similar instances and outcomes extending back over the NMA’s 35 year history.

Because the Book of Decisions is readily accepted as a consensus document by all parties, it is a welcome resource for ironing out potential contractual issues. So unlike typical labor disputes that can extend into arduous, heated and lengthy stand-offs, issues are resolved amicably within days or even hours.

With such a stellar track record, why hasn’t the NMA become the contracting tool of choice for construction or renovation for every facility manager across the country? Probably because some parties believe the term “national” maintenance agreement is some rigid, one-size-fits all instrument that will hamstring their flexibility in getting the job done. They fear loss of local control of the project.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, an NMA enables a great deal of local flexibility for individual project or facility conditions within a solid, standardized foundation. The NMA merely provides the framework. The tenant finish is up to those directly involved in a given job. As a result, owners and managers are free to devote their time and energy to the overall project goals.

Owners, contractors and labor that have become long time users of the agreement swear by it. In fact, they have become so comfortable with the NMA that they now use it for renovation, modernization and capital improvement projects. Freed from endlessly reinventing the wheel, the NMA saves time and energy for everyone involved.

Does using an NMA pay off? Big time! Since the first NMA was inked in 1971, more than $280 billion in projects and 2 billion work hours under the NMA have been successfully completed. More than 2,500 contractors and 14 international unions are signatories to NMAs, and a wide variety of owners use them nationwide.

NMAs are at work coast to coast in manufacturing, power generation, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, automotive and many other diverse industries.

In short, an NMA is a proven system for putting owner, contractors and labor on the path to productivity, profitability, and safety, as quickly as possible. FSM

Steve Lindauer is CEO of the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee, Inc. Headquartered in Arlington, VA, NMAPC has been actively involved in the construction industry for over 27 years.